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Reasons to be hopeful

Guardian writers on what gives them optimism for the year ahead

3 January 2017

  • Mountains with sun rising.

    Protest power, random acts of kindness and pets: reasons to be hopeful in 2017

    Sarah Marsh and Guardian readers
    As we welcome in 2017 after a hard year, our readers share their reasons to be hopeful

2 January 2017

  • Frances Ryan

    Poverty in the UK is a grim, growing reality. But there are rays of light too

    Frances Ryan
    Across the country, ordinary people are giving their time and money to ensure that others get the food, clothing and advice they so desperately need

31 December 2016

  • Owen Jones

    It’s not game over. Austria stopped rightwing populism in its tracks

    Owen Jones
    It was to be the last great domino of 2016, but the country showed that victory on the radical right is not inevitable
  • Aditya Chakrabortty

    Politics may be nasty. Yet courage and humour abounds in people like John

    Aditya Chakrabortty
    The most uplifting stories of the year are of those facing adversity with the charm of my friend, stripped of part of his disability benefits
  • Earth from space.

    Humanity may self-destruct, but the universe can cope perfectly without us

    Lionel Shriver
    Chances are that the cosmos neither treasures nor regrets humans. It permits us, with marvellous neutrality, and could do without our interference

30 December 2016

  • Gary Younge

    The right is emboldened, yes. But it’s not in the ascendancy

    Gary Younge
  • Deborah Orr

    Trump’s personality will help us learn how our minds work

    Deborah Orr
  • Remona Aly

    After a year of gloom, the joy of everyday kindness is the best antidote

    Remona Aly
  • Clement Attlee celebrates Labour's 1945 election victory

    I have seen Britain shrouded in darkness before. Better times will come

    Harry Leslie Smith

29 December 2016

  • Rebecca Solnit

    Another, more beautiful America is rising. Trump will be resisted

    Rebecca Solnit
  • Reni Eddo-Lodge

    Fearless teenagers and Teen Vogue could transform a bleak-looking future

    Reni Eddo-Lodge

28 December 2016

  • Simon Jenkins

    Don’t let the news get you down – things will get better, they always do

    Simon Jenkins
  • Reading along the Grand Union Canal in Camden

    In hard times, reading fiction reminds us we are human in a way Twitter never can

    Hope Whitmore

27 December 2016

  • Pro-immigrant rally, 18 December New York City

    The rise of fascism is not inevitable – just look at Bridges Not Walls

    Ellie Mae O'Hagan
    ‘How can we fight the rise of the far right?’ people say. Try Bridges Not Walls, the movement spawned after Trump’s election to reject hate

26 December 2016

  • Peter Ormerod

    Believe it or not, Brits are becoming less materialistic

    Peter Ormerod
    It is commonly assumed that we are consuming more and more stuff. But not only is the opposite true, we’re also becoming better sharers
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